India, April 22 -- In Maharashtra, the politics of identity has long revolved around the pillars of language, region, and legacy. The recent uproar over the introduction of Hindi as a third compulsory language in Marathi and English medium schools under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is not just about education policy-it's a reflection of deep-rooted tensions, old rivalries, and a political script that has been running for decades.

At the heart of the latest storm are two familiar names-Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray, cousins and once the joint inheritors of Balasaheb Thackeray's Hindutva-driven, Marathi-pride narrative. Their fallout in 2005 led to the formation of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) by Raj, who felt side...